With the beginning of free agency just a few days away, its no surprise that there are little tidbits of rumors and information starting to find their way into the hands of the media. The Sun-Sentinel reported on Monday that the Heat had been working with free-agent center Eddy Cury, who has barely played over the past three seasons.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: I don’t see it. I don’t see what Eddy Curry can offer the Miami Heat.

After all, Curry played a grand total of ten games in the last three seasons. He's several seasons removed from posting nice numbers for the New York Knicks.

Then there’s the fit. The Heat need an athlete. Someone to score, defend, and play both ends of the floor.

That’s not Curry. The Chicago native was once a skilled center, but he always struggled with defense. His skill will be gone after such a lengthy layoff, and his defense will be even worse becase of poor conditioning.

There were off-court issues, too. Curry, despite signing a massive contract, was in debt because of atrocious decisions. Then there was this.

Why is the Heat so interested in Curry? Three words: Bosh, LeBron, D-Wade.

Curry has the same management as the 'Three Kings'. So Executive Pat Riley may be tossing the people behind his superstars a bone.

If so, this isn’t basketball. This is business. And bad business at that.--Oly Sandor.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: The Miami Heat, according to Executive Pat Riley, do not want to break up 'The Three Kings'.

Translation: the Heat do not want to trade Chris Bosh. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were never going anywhere.

'Oli Slick' Riley knows he can’t get equal value in a trade for James or Wade. Such a thing is impossible. So such a trade isn't happening.

Love them or hate them, 'The King' and 'D-Wade' are firmly entrenched as the faces of South Beach. Basketball’s greatest villains are returning.

Bosh’s status wasn’t so certain. He struggled to find his place amongst his superstar teammates. And his more introverted, bookish personality seemed at odds with the glitz-and-glamour of James and Wade.

There were suggestions the Heat would shop Bosh in hopes of upgrading their supporting cast.

Not anymore, though. Riley saw Bosh’s true value in the playoffs. And he wants to keep his left-handed four-man.

Wanting and doing are different. Riley may have to trade Bosh because of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The CBA may include a hard cap and/or salary rollback, which would force changes. Bosh, and his max contract, would likely be sacrificied, so the Heat can comply with the new cap.

Bottom line: the Heat want Bosh. But they might not be able to keep him.

We are back to what the NBA was when Michael Jordan retired for the first time in 1993. There is no true ultimate dominator in this league who is head and shoulders above everyone. Remember that time? Malone, Stockton, Olajuwon, Shaq, Kidd, Miller, Barkley, Richmond, Pippen, Payton, and more became prominent when Jordan left. As of 2011, there is no one head and shoulders above anyone. We can make arguments for a few select, but they each have flaws whether it’s getting old, shrinking up, or whatever.

Take Larry Riley, the head suit for the Golden State Warriors. Riley recently told Sports Illustrated that the club isn’t shopping Monta Ellis, their lightning-quick scorer.

That, however, doesn’t mean the Warriors won’t trade Ellis. It means they won’t initiate trade discussions, but they’ll listen to trade offers. And who knows what happens if the right trade offer materializes?

So Riley can offer public assurances. He can compare the Warriors’ tiny backcourt of Ellis and Stephen Curry to the world champion Mavericks, who used smaller guards.

Riley is conveniently omitting that the Mavericks have superstar Dirk Nowitzki. The Warriors do not.

New coach Mark Jackson can say Ellis is the NBA’s third best shooting guard, capable of matching-up against anyone except Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade.

The door is open to a trade. How wide open remains to be seen, though.
--Oly Sandor.

Do not blow up the Miami Heat. I repeat – do not blow the team up. That’s a stupid idea because they just made the NBA Finals. Yes, they actually reached the NBA Finals. It’s tough just to get there. I do not comprehend a complete blow up of the team by any stretch of the imagination. Pat Riley is not going to do that. It’s just dumb. However, they should break up the tandem of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. I am serious and will explain why.

The Mavs' won game six of the NBA Finals and, as a result, the Larry O'Brien trophy with balanced play, masterful three-point shooting, and offensive rebounding in the fourth quarter.

The storylines are endless: Future Hall of Famers Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki get their rings; owner Mark Cuban really has a reason to smirk; Jason Terry's offensive explosion was reminiscent of Vinnie Johnson.

Plain and simple, the Mavericks were the better team.

The questions will continue for the Miami Heat. For instance, who will Executive Pat Riley sign to support the 'Three Kings'? And can the Heat afford the 'Three Kings' if the new Collective Bargaining Agreement changes the NBA's financial landscape?

Is Erik Spoelstra the coach to lead LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to a championship? If not, will 'Oil Slick' Riley stab Spoelstra in the back like Stan Van Gundy and return to the sideline?

These questions will be answered in the future. In the meantime, click the link for video highlights of game six, and get at us with thoughts on the Mavericks winning the championship.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: From unknown ‘Euro’ to world champion and Finals MVP.

Leading his Dallas Mavericks to an NBA championship validates Dirk Nowitzki as one of the NBA’s greatest players of all time.

His numbers were always superb. Yet Nowitzki never received the respect he deserved from his fellow superstars. It was subtle, but there.

There were Euro jokes. There was little respect from Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade in the 2006 NBA Finals. And Wade snubbed him months later at the 2007 All-Star game.

Then there was the jokes after his Mavericks self-destructed against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2007 playoffs. The Mavericks were the first seed. The Warriors were the eighth seed.

Just a few days ago, Wade and LeBron James took a run at Nowitzki, coughing and joking into the camera before a shoot-around.

Clearly, the Heat’s two superstar didn’t believe Nowitzki had the flu in game five, or the German was playing up his fever to gain sympathy.

Bottom line: none of that matters anymore. Not one bit. Nowitzki now has a championship. Nobody can ever take that from him.

Revenge is indeed sweet.

--Oly Sandor.

Agree or disagree? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.

Hey. Who is tired of this? People want us to feel sorry for a guy who is making $90+ million, Nike cash, and other endorsement money? Say what? Why do they have to resort writing pieces basically implying “Hey he is not that bad.” Wow. Now people are defending him – the same people who were bashing him prior to the 2010-2011 season. It’s too bad. So we’re just going to sweep the one hour Decision extravaganza complete with jersey photo shops under the rug?

I’m here to win,” James said. “That’s all it’s about. Individual accolades take care of itself. “I’ve got two MVP trophies sitting in my house back in Ohio and I haven’t won anything. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s all about a team game and this is the ultimate team prize right here, just trying to win the NBA championship.

“So I don’t really care. I could trade in my last two MVP trophies to have a ring. I don’t care about individual accolades to solidify myself in the NBA or whatever they’re talking about. It’s ridiculous.”

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: On this, LeBron James gets the benefit of the doubt.

If it was about individual accolades, if it was about getting his, if it was about having the spotlight to himself, James would’ve never ‘taken his talent to South Beach’.

If LeBron was all about LeBron, he’d have stayed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and feasted on an all-you-can-eat-smorgasbord of ‘iso’ plays.

After all, the Miami Heat has a co-superstar in Dwyane Wade. There’s also a legit’ star in Chris Bosh. This means James must sacrifice points, minutes, and touches.

He takes turns dominating the ball. And he no longer spearheads a one-four spread for most the game. At times, he must share. At times, he must take a backseat. And for the NBA Finals, he has had to defer to Wade.

The payoff is obvious: teaming up with Bosh and Wade has given James him his best chance at a championship. And winning a championship would validate James' sacrifice.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: For two days, we had concerns about how the Miami Heat would respond to blowing game two of the NBA Finals.

Tonight, we got our answer.

The Heat, led by Dwyane Wade’s 29 points, went into Dallas and hung on for an impressive 88-86 victory. Click the link, watch the highlights, and get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below with thoughts on game three.

What is going on with the Miami Heat? I thought these guys were unstoppable. What the hell happened? That game 2 of the NBA Finals is what happened. Wow. What a choke job, man. Damn. LeBron and Wade all celebrating when they were up by 15 points. Someone should have told them that there was still a lot of time left to play; about 7 minutes right? That is a lifetime in the NBA. No matter how big the lead, it can evaporate quickly as proven in game 2. Wow.

It’s been a tough ride for Kobe Bryant and Laker Nation in 2011. They were dominated in the 2nd round of the playoffs against the Mavericks, Phil Jackson retired, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar disrespected, and Kobe looked old. Just going by numbers, the Black Mamba is not a top 5 fantasy player. Take notice that he is not being picked number one overall in many drafts. The trend picked up beginning in 2008 when Chris Paul and LeBron James started to take over.

Derrick Rose’s Chicago Bulls have been eliminated from the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals at the hands of the Wade/LeBron-Bosh Miami Heat, 4-1. Chi-Town is fighting through some pain right now, but there shouldn’t be any. At the beginning of the season, there were not many people on the Bulls’ bandwagon. The hype grew as the wins piled up. The bandwagon grew yet many were not convinced. Rose won MVP and that’s when all hell broke loose. Tom Thibodeau received Coach of the Year. Beating Indiana and Atlanta were good. However, facing Miami caused the bandwagon to break. People keep saying that getting an upgrade at the shooting guard position over Keith Bogans is all that is needed to get the Bulls over the top to win it all.

Game 1 is in the books. The Chicago Bulls woke up a lot of critics, 103-82. Led by Derrick Rose's 28 points and 6 assists, his performance was fine considering that he out dueled Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Both men did not even dial in 20 points, but Chris Bosh poured in 30 points. Miami's supporting cast could not get anything going as usual. However, the talk of the night belongs to Taj Gibson's dunks. One was on Dwyane Wade. The other one, which was a nasty put back, probably destroyed a planet somewhere. Lawd have mercy, things got nasty. Heat fans and critics were shocked. Don't be. They have been doing the business all season.

The Bulls center huddled with Chris Bosh inside Chicago's Trump International Hotel and Tower over the summer without any preconceived notions. He simply wanted the guy sitting across from him at Sixteen restaurant to show a fire and passion about joining the Bulls.

Bosh didn't. "He was a nice guy and all,'' Noah said of his recruitment of Bosh during the free-agent frenzy. "But Bosh was more into, 'Well it depends on what this guy does, what that guy does.'''

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade admitted they strongly considered signing with the Bulls. "It was two mornings," Wade said at Friday's practice of waking up during the summer of 2010 envisioning himself with Chicago. "I definitely had one or two mornings where I woke up thinking I'd be a Bull too, but ultimately I decided to come here," James said.

It was never a show of disrespect toward Bosh, but a way for James and Wade to display the friendship they had built over the years. For Bosh, it was an easier way to distinguish his preference of standing alone. "With me, I've always just been different," Bosh said. "I've never tried to fit in. I'm one of the fellas, great. I get along with everybody, great. But if I'm going to read my book, I'm going to read my book and this is what I'm doing."

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: The Miami Heat doesn’t care if Chris Bosh is his own man. They don’t care if he’s one of the ‘fellas’ -or not. And they don’t care if he conducts interviews with LeBron James and/or Dwyane Wade.

They care about one thing: his play. That is all.

If Bosh produces, the Heat will be tough. They’ll likely win the Eastern Conference and stand a good chance at capturing the NBA Title.

If Bosh falters, the Heat is beatable. Their half-court sets become predictable. Opposing defences will cheat on James and/or Wade with little or no repercussions.

Bosh is that all-important third scorer. His skill keeps opposing defenses honest, and his length makes him a solid rebounder.

When Bosh is at his best, the Heat can turn to an undersized unit of The Three Kings with two shooters. The most interesting feature of this line-up is when James and Wade runs pick-and-rolls.

All of this hinges on Bosh playing his best. And nothing else matters.